Shizuru&Mai 100 prompts
by Sombereyes
Summary: Just a short story list of prompts. Length of each one varies. 200-2,000 words each depending on prompt. Rated M due to some of the prompts (but not most of them)
1. Beauty, Love, Dream, Haunted

A/N: Okay Beth, I promised you content to read, and here it is…well, part of it, anyway…most of this is for you know when, and during you know what. Anyway, since you told me you are dying for content to read, I thought I'd give you this as a little something to look forward to. Lord knows you have other things coming as well, like the epilogue to L&amp;L and the epilogue to Dreamweaver, not to mention a few other things during that time, but since I'm salvaging those bags of tricks from the dying USB, I can give you this.

Admittedly, some of these are longer than others. Keep your chin up. Hope it brightens your day, at least a little bit.

**Shizuru/Mai 100 Prompts  
Prompt # 1-4**

**1.****Beauty  
**(Dark vampire, AU)

This was a game she played before. Too many times in her countless years of life, if the numbness she felt could really be called living. It was doubtful. She was an old hand at toying with her prey. A huntress unwilling to let the game be lost merely due to her own starvation. She was powerful indeed, but her vices were without a doubt stronger. Clawing at her mind with merciless temptation, it growled like beasts in her gut.

"There is nothing more beautiful than a woman's scorn, wouldn't you agree?" Her words, those like liquid heat were carried in her warm whisper. "Will you not cry out? Perhaps you might beg me for mercy? If you did, I might comply."

"Mercy?" The woman asked, as she forced the word from her throat in a single strangled utterance. "D-do you even know what that word means?"

"A fine question." A fawn eyebrow raised in interest, as this woman dared to ask her something best ignored. "Well, no matter. I know what it doesn't mean, and that's all I must know." A smile played at the edges of her lips as sharp teeth glinted dangerously in the moonlight. "You're a tough girl…I like that in a toy, but you won't stay like that for long."

Wordlessly, a soft hand reached up, thumbing away blood that dripped from her assailant's chin. "Maybe not." The victim barely breathed. "Why live like this, you've already dug your fangs into me. Dying would be a reprieve." Softness, kindness, and understanding. "Better to die young, than to live forever."

"You pity me, whelp?" Shizuru asked shakily. "I own you…you're mine, do you understand?" She spat darkly, her hand clutching at the girl's neck. "You shall not pity me."

"You're a sad creature, aren't you?" Mai asked quietly. "Sad creatures should be pitied."

Weak, uneasy, a tempest continued brewing in the deepest depths of her heart. Stained with mud, drenched in sweat, dripping with gore, the rain could not wash away any of her sins. Fawn tresses clung to the side of her face, bangs matting down to cover the twisted gleam in crimson eyes. Empty violet gazed up at her.

She licked her lips, cleaning them from her meal. "You haven't a clue." Blood, warm and sticky coated her fingers. "Sad am I? Pitiable? I'm neither. I'm not even a creature." She tasted them, blinded by the flavor that so tempted her. "Though, I am a monster, perhaps." Shizuru explained as she gripped the girl tightly, her nails digging into the soft flesh of her prey's neck. "You'll do well to remember that."

"Wh-" A broken gasp cut through the silence. The injured woman found herself unable to speak, lifting a hand to the wound. She felt cold, drained of the life giving substance. Although strangely, she found herself spared from the cusp of death. Fogged sense began to clear slowly, as the predator gazed onward, watching pained twitches, and uneasy shudders. "Why am I still alive?"

"Why indeed?" The creature herself, hadn't a clue. "Why should a spare you?" Shizuru considered aloud, as she caressed a pale, lifeless cheek. "Why make you one of my kind?" Her fingers trailed downwards, ghosting over flesh she had nipped at, finding the exquisite taste beyond measure. "Why not devour you instead?" She licked again at the wound she'd made in the woman she fancied. No answer came. Only desire, only passion, igniting at the faraway emotion. "I could break you, tear into you, until there was nothing left."

"You won't." It was weak reply that slipped beyond the weakened woman's lips.

If it was newly born instinct, or something else, Shizuru remained unsure. Her eyes narrowed, finding those soft shimmering violet eyes void of hate. Lacking both deceit, and a desire for revenge. She would light the embers of such a gaze, she desired such a goal. "I will paint you in the darkest black. You'll see." Shizuru said then as she gently lifted the busty woman into her arms. The promises resting in crimson eyes darker than the deepest black. "Only then, will you kill me."

Unrelentingly, intoxicating, and sinfully beautiful...she would dream of such a day.

…

**2.****Love  
**(Fluff, HiME-Verse)

What would it mean to feel the difference between the softest caress she had ever known, and the most demanding flair of the senses? What would be the stopping point between that singular ghosting kiss? One that lingering in hesitancy. How would that contrast so perfectly with the confidence to capture that sweet surrender without a fleeting thought? What was the difference between a temptress and an enchantress? What about the line between perfect beauty, and mysticism?

If love were to face lust, what would win? What flip of a coin would cause rapture to crest upon the soul?

Shizuru was unsure, because she was not a gentle woman. She was unable to understand the tenderness of the kiss gifted to her. It was something that snared her once solidly founded logic, shredding it to bits, casting it onto the depths of shadow. Never before had fingertips touched her face in such a way, pushing away emotion that threatened to drown the both of them.

Baited breath fell from her, crimson meeting those dearest pools of violet. Their gaze was a shared promise, one never to be spoken by words. Yet even so, in that one tiny moment, she was brought to question the tiny voice in her heart.

Was it love? Probably not.

…

**3.****Dream  
**(A Nightmare, HiME-verse)

"You don't love me." Emptiness, a void so deep nothing was left.

"I do." A truth and little more.

"Won't you stay?" A quiet question, hardly heard.

"I can't." A denial.

"Why?" A nearly silent scream.

"What would happen if I did?" A question that couldn't be answered.

Face to face, a shadow loomed between them unspoken. Like a monster under the bed, rattling angry chains. Shizuru sighed as Mai stood quietly. One woman blocked the door, the other stood firmly with a bag in hand. A lack of commitment leading into the threads of threats best tangled, looped into a battle of wits. A standoff so fierce that there was no victor for this particular war. Only losses on both sides.

"I don't want you to go." Again, beseeching words begged for forgiveness.

"I don't want to leave." A broken admittance.

"Then don't." A soft offer, maybe even an order.

"You breathe her name in your sleep." An accusation, one so heartrending, it hurt to even say it.

Shizuru looked away, tears at the edges of her eyes. Mai sighed, feeling as though she were the one brandishing the sword upon the woman she loved, cutting her very soul to bits. Together they stood, but not on solid ground.

"It isn't what you think." Crimson eyes hid behind closed lids.

"How can I believe that?" Violet widened, lips tightening into a thin line.

"It was a nightmare." Words shook violently, as she leaned back onto the wall, slipping to the floor. "I killed her…I killed her because I loved her. I loved her, and I couldn't have her…so I killed her. I told her I'd kill her, so I did."

A thump, and Mai's bag crashed to the floor as she rushed to Shizuru's side. The woman's tears were hot against her cheek, flowing so rapidly that they cascaded over the palms that cupped her cheeks.

"Natsuki's fine." Quiet, but firm.

"Is she?" An aversion to comfort.

"We saw her just the other day." Unrelentingly honest.

"Don't do this." Clarity lost to the fog of emotion.

"That was a dream." Warmth in the face of adversity. "You're awake now."

"Not if you leave." Fear dripping with self-loathing.

"I won't." A promise. "This isn't your nightmare anymore."

…

**4\. ****Haunted**

(HiME-verse, dark humor)

"I swear to God, you scared the shit out of me." Mai murmured quietly as she huddled under the blanket.

"Poltergeists don't exist." Shizuru laughed quietly. "You've just watched one too many horror movies with Natsuki."

"don't blame me. It's not my fault she hates rom-com." Mai shuddered as she thought of all of the gore that had flickered across the wide screen in the past several hours. "Why does she like that stuff anyway."

"Well, that's Natsuki for you." Shizuru said with a soft smile as she lifted up the comforter. "Besides, rom-com probably scares her more than all of the zombies and poltergeists in the world." She slipped underneath, pulling her lover into her arms, nuzzling the smooth skin at the nape of her neck. "If you wanted, I'm sure I could distract you."

Mai rolled her eyes, a soft laugh tumbling out of her. "Of course you'd think of that."

"It would probably be a bad omen." Shizuru said then as she nipped gently on Mai's ear. "Some ravenous murder always jumps out during a steamy romp in the sheets."

"Oh, God." Mai sighed, feeling her skin ripple in gooseflesh as soon as that hot murmur melted into the air. "Hey, 'Zuru don't make jokes like that."

"It's one of the three basic rules of horror movies." Shizuru said honestly as her fingers pushed up the fabric of Mai's top, exposing supple flesh. "Never go anyplace illogical, if it seems like a bad idea then it probably is, and never give into mortal vices."

Mai just smirked. "What about never wear white nightgowns in front of me ever again?"

"I'm wearing one now." Shizuru said with a soft gleam in her eye. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Does ripping it off and setting it on fire count?" Mai asked softly as she watched Shizuru release the top two buttons of the long flowing gown.

"You're free to rip it to shreds." Shizuru murmured then as she leaned in to kiss Mai on the lips. "The fire on the other hand, had better wait until tomorrow."


	2. Memory, Fragile

A/N: I'm going to get more of these up sometime tomorrow, but for now, here's two more from the prompt list. It's the start of the Mai/Shizuru invasion.

**5\. ****Memory  
**(HiME-verse, generic)

She looked at the words on the page, and felt the crisp yellowing paper between her fingers, but it was not enough. She could still smell the fires, the smoke, and the ash she left behind. She would smile, and pretend not to care. It was an easy front, one she knew well. Even in the quiet moments, when she should be studying, her mind drifted to the woods she set aflame. The marks in the ground were so deep she could never heal the wounds. The scent of fire would remind her of the damage she'd done, of the battles she fought. Of how close she came to losing everything, watching as those she loved slipped between her fingers.

She could almost feel the tingling magic lingering there.

If she closed her eyes, and thought back hard enough, she could recall the depth of space. The soundless expanse that made her unable to breath, her thoughts scattering in those heated moments when only her dragon was able to protect her. She closed her eyes and her book, before holding out her hands. How many times had she uttered his name, begging for him to come and comfort her?

A sad voice pulled her from her attempt in futility. "It won't work, Mai." They'd all tried many times before, but to no avail. "You shouldn't force yourself to try so hard for him, he's gone."

"I can't help it." Mai smiled then as she pulled a lighter out from her pocket. She lit it with one hand, and held her fingers over the flame with the other. "I can't get burned anymore. I'm still connected to my element, at least in some ways."

Shizuru shook her head, pulling the lighter gently from Mai's hand, handing her a cup of tea instead. "Yes you can." She said sadly. "You do it every day…every time you think about those terrible things like that. You burn, it's just in ways that can't be seen."

"How do you know that?" Mai asked uneasily.

"Think too much, Mai, you're going to get burned." Shizuru murmured with a shrug. "That's just how it is. There's no remedy for that. The only thing you can try to do is find some peace of mind."

…

**6.****Fragile  
**(HiME-Verse, Hurt/Romance, Shizuru POV)

It's just a broken cup, nothing significant about that.

Not the shards on the floor, or the woman who places each piece into the trash one by one, not even the blood speckling the floor. Nothing's rare about this occurrence, it's so average that the concept itself is a novelty. Maybe there's a hint of romance to it, a pained way to cry without tears, I suppose. There might be finality in that one broken thing. An analogy for a heart shattered to bits.

I'm not exactly a hopeless romantic, but if I was less cynical, I would coin the sight in front of me tragically beautiful.

I'd like to think I'm far above those baser idiosyncrasies. Yet, I know I'm terribly below the standard realm of kindness. Even as I watch onward, flicking the tip of my tongue over my lips, I have no answer for the woman destroyed in front of me. I just feel a strange sort acceptance, as if this should happen to someone else. Anyone else besides me. I've experienced this pain once before, so, why shouldn't somebody else?

It's Mai who suffers, that might be why I'm comforted. Natsuki rejected her too, so, I'm not the only one anymore.

A stronger person might try to comfort the woman in front of me. A better person would go over to her, and at least sit down beside her. If it was Natsuki that was so pained, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, I would in a heartbeat. I wouldn't hesitate to tend to her emotional wounds, lovingly trying to put the fractured pieces back together. Blotting away the blood, kissing away the tears, and embracing that quaking body against my own to stifle the shivers.

Instead, I don't do a single thing. I find only the tiniest hints of solace in this. Slight happiness that someone as fragile as this woman might also feel the same agony I did.

That someone else had chosen to befriend Natsuki, a woman so cold that her heart was like ice. That someone else had become mercilessly frozen in return, breaking to bits when their love went by ignored and forgotten. Maybe that was enough, a balm for words that could now be spoken as truth.

Perhaps, Natsuki was correct. Maybe she couldn't quantify it. Maybe she wasn't able to understand the feeling. Maybe her words had been little more than truth. That not everyone was capable of feeling love, but those that were able to, willingly subjected themselves to the horrendous pain of defeat.

Even so, Mai's just another broken woman. There's nothing significant about that, either.


	3. Secret, Breathless

A/N: Since I was gone all day, I really only have time to get another two prompts out.

**7\. ****Secret  
**(Otome-Verse, Comfort fic)

"Don't make me do this…" It was a weak plea by a voice that couldn't find purchase in the air around them. A raw power pulsing through the blood of the two students, empowering the both of them as thy stood face to face.

"You're afraid, you shouldn't be." Crimson eyes were as steady as they were calculating. "Trust yourself, and it'll come to you." Shizuru sighed as she realized that there was no way to ease the fear of the younger girl. "You can't be afraid to materialize your robe."

"I'm not afraid of that." Mai said as she took a step backwards. "I…I can fight well, if I really wanted to." She said, knowing that to be true, even if her own skill easily became stunted by her passive nature.

"It'll be alright." Shizuru said as she pulled the girl close. "You have to remain calm, Mai. Let the power guide you."

"I don't want to do this." Mai said quietly as she released the robe that gave her power. "I don't want to fight you, or Natsuki, or any of my friends." She almost fell to her knees, when strong arms grabbed her.

"That's what being an otome means." Shizuru said, her fingers running through short carrot colored tresses. "You know this." A darkness in her voice soft and firm kept her in authority. "You train with the intent to kill, you fight with the will to protect those you've sworn an oath to." Shizuru explained, as was her duty as an upperclassmen instructing an uneasy student. It was no question why she was paired with two of the most gifted, if not difficult students the academy had to offer. "When it comes to politics, one day we may very well be enemies. You don't have the luxury to consider me your friend."

"How can you say that when you're...the way you are?" Mai asked then, tears at the edges of her eyes. "What if Natsuki ever heard you say that?"

"She knows." Painfully, loathe though Shizuru was to admit it, she knew it was the case. "My greatest fear is that one day I'll have different loyalties. To be honest, I don't think I could hurt either one of you." She reached out a hand, caressing Mai's cheek. "If it came down to a real battle, I wonder if I'd be strong enough to kill you. I wonder if that wouldn't be my greatest demise." She sighed then, producing her weapon with measured grace. "That's precisely why I'm going to train the both of you. You both have the potential to be far greater otome than I could ever be. For now, while I still can, I want to protect that gift you two share."

"Do you love Natsuki?" Mai asked quietly, nervously averting her gaze.

Shizuru didn't even flinch at the question. "Otome makes bonds that run deep, they bind us impossibly, even if we do sometimes become enemies. I pray it doesn't come to that because of my love for her." At that, she pushed some fawn hair behind her ear, and stood in a casual battle stance. "Materialize your robe, it's time you begin training properly."

"Could you ever love me the same way?" Mai asked then as she materialized her robe halfheartedly.

"A person only has the right to ask that kind of question if they can surpass me." Shizuru answered with a tell-no-tale smile. It was the very same smirk that was beginning to earn her a terrible reputation as the otome with the bewitching smile. "Beat me in a dance battle and maybe I'll tell you."

…

**8.****Breathless  
**(Mai-Verse, Romance, Mai POV)

Her kisses are sweet, like honey.

It still surprises me sometimes when I realize how soft a woman's body is. It's not anything like a man. The differences aren't just the obvious ones. I've been told before that I'm clueless, and that I don't know what I want. Maybe, sometimes, I don't. I don't think that's a bad thing. At my age, isn't that part of growing up? Well, that's what I think, anyway.

This is why I wish my mom was around. I could ask her these kinds of things. It seems silly to admit it, but I'm kind of nervous about being with another person. I've always been like that, because I want to do the right thing, be the right kind of person.

I guess that's why the hand on my cheek makes me as giddy as it does afraid. Am I really good enough? Does she really want me like this because she loves me? I wish I could ask Shizuru that, but I'm afraid it'll ruin the moment, that it would somehow take away that look in her eyes. I want her to keep looking at me, to keep me close and never let go.

I think it's what a person might call desire. I've never felt like this before, so bound by the gaze of another.

I want to reach out and touch her, and it's probably silly that I'm hesitating like this, but I want it to be the right thing, for the right reasons.

I want to kiss her again, feel her body against mine, wrap my arms around her...I want to just give in. The bed is soft and she hovers over me. The gentleness of that alone is another surprise. The air around me is chilly enough to paint my skin with gooseflesh, and i shiver a little at all the tiny things I'm feeling.

I wonder if it's a question that's tangled around that other emotion in her eyes. I wonder if she's asking if I permit this. I wonder if I've somehow made her afraid to go any further. Whatever question she might have had seems to have died on the tip of her tongue, and I don't trust my own voice either.

I want to just let go of whatever is holding us back, so I'll close my eyes and I'll nod my head, leaning up to kiss her once again. I hope that will be enough.


	4. Promise, Innocence

A/N: Just tossing this up here for now. Dreamweaver is getting it's final update when my internet cooperates.

**9\. ****Promise  
**(Generic, Romance)

It was a wordless admission, one found in the deepest depths of the soul. Side by side, they say nothing. Together, they express everything. Impossibly, their hearts beat as one. Without even thing about it, their fingers intertwine.

Watching the morning sun through the glass window was the only thing they desired to do once spent. The rings on their fingers warmly reflecting the rays of light. In that single moment, away from phones and computers, there was no greater joy than the soft serenity between them. Intimately bathing the two lovers in the feelings found in the arms of each other.

…

**10\. ****Innocence  
**(Generic, family theme)

She was a self proclaimed sinner. Too many times, she'd declared herself unfit of happiness. She accused herself undeserving of joy. She was often the first to put herself down, and the last to take praise as truth. Her past had warped her for the worst. Her future often seemed too far away.

In spite of those things, she found herself surrounded by the people she cared for most. For the longest time, she'd thought herself too blessed, and feared that such gifts would be ripped away from her. Each and every time she began to suspect such a thing, she was proven wrong by fate.

Once again, it seemed as if the gods above chuckled at her foolishness. That fact came in the sound of a baby fussing for the first time, and it carried over into the quiet uneasiness that her worries brought her.

Anxieties she'd never once thought of before, trickling tenderly onto the surface of her heart, and sinking into the depth of her mind.

Nine months had come and gone. Too fast, and yet agonizingly slow at the same time. All of it came down to this one evening during a bitter cold winter, when the snow itself cloaked everything it touched. She could not find words for the small child in Mai's arms. She could not discover reason for her own sense of awe.

Wordlessly, her gaze fell to the baby boy, his eyes closed, only a little hair atop of his head. She might not have been the most maternal woman in the world, and she wasn't always kind either. Her faults were as many as there were drops in the ocean. Knowing that made it hard to accept that the child was a reality.

Still Shizuru tried to remind herself to breath as the boy opened his sleepy eyes to regard her for a mere moment. Scrunching them closed again, he blocked out the bright world around him. He seemed to enjoy snuggling into his mother's warmth instead. It was surreal, and feeling lost, she only reach out to the hand that was so much smaller than her own.

"He has blue eyes." Shizuru murmured, unsure of herself, and the tender world that had overcome her so quickly.

A weak laugh followed. "All babies have blue eyes."

Shizuru nodded, her hand falling to Mai's shoulders, feeling the exhausted woman sag against her. "I can't believe this is really happening."

"You afraid?" Mai asked softly, so at ease.

Shizuru swallowed hard. "Petrified."

Mai just smiled. "Hold your son so that I can take a nap."

Carefully, Shizuru held him, cradling the boy securely in her arms. The small bundle slept, making little more than a small peep. He soon settled. This was the easy part, she knew that because children wouldn't remain so young forever. At that, she sighed a little. His acceptance of her seemed to be the same as his mother's.

Her past mistakes were absolved by the infant in her arms, nonexistent to his personal reality. The family she so desired was right here, peacefully at her side.


	5. Moonlight

A/N: I hope everyone had a good Easter. Mine was alright, to some extent. 503 errors, plus my cat (Sabin) needing to visit the vet made being able to post anything completely and totally impossible. So, as a test to see if everything is functioning as it should, I'm tossing this up…if it actually shows up the way it should, I'll post the next chunks as well as chapters to other things that haven't had one yet.

**11\. ****Moonlight  
**(HiME-Verse, the birth of Kiyohime)

To be in love as a marked woman was a terrible fate. The selfsame as a death warrant granted by the darkness of the soul.

Shizuru could feel that darkness inside as it crept into her heart like a sickening disease. She would have to become unquestionably stronger, and such thoughts twisted her dreams at night, tormenting her as she considered how best to cope. Ruthlessness seemed her only option.

One night, that dream cackled at her even once she woke. She followed instinctively, doing as her dream ordered of her. Nipping at her tongue, she headed to the beach, where a hissing sound wrapped around her like a chain. Constricting her in venomous words, and acerbic threats that were as good as promises.

With such animosity came a promise of shared adversity.

Water lapped at the bottoms of her feet, the soft sand leaving only the faintest traces of where her steps had been. She traced the water's edge with her eyes, looking for the perfect place to enter the black depths. The waves roared gently, leaving behind the faintest mist in the air. The solitude was strangely welcoming, asking for another person to join in. It was if the invitation was a soft one, a murmur so amazingly powerful, though she was sure no one else could hear it.

The call of the beast lurking in the depths was little more than a demon. Something not human and not animal, but something else entirely, not known to science. Only to scripture.

Turning to a patch of water kissed by the moon's gentle glow, she began to step into the cold darkness in front of her. Shizuru's steps called to the monster, seeking the attention from the lonely void. Then, as if her heart had been heard, the waves parted. A circle with the beast's image was left ill-begotten in the sands. Reaching out to it, she called its name, making a pact with the serpent of the waters.

With the single word, carried upon baited breath, Kiyohime was born.


	6. Whisper (Read the warning)

A/N: Okay, since the test worked, time for a better update…due to the nature of this particular prompt, I'm having it stand alone. **This prompt earns an M rating for sure. Violence, and self-harm ahead. Read at your own risk.** I actually like this prompt a lot, and this is something that I may make into a much longer stand alone one shot later, when I finish some of my other projects. In the meantime though, it was fun.

**12.****Whisper  
**(HiME-Verse, Darkfic, blood, self-harm)

There was a metallic smell in the air. It wafted so thickly that it made her want to vomit. She swallowed down the bile that lingered in the back of her throat as she looked down to her hands, feeling the gritty ash that caked under her fingernails. A whole new memory drifted into her mind. A terrible sight of the carnage caused by her rage. Unable to erase those images from her mind's eye, she reached out to the liquor bottle.

It numbed her so perfectly.

Swigging the last of the contents, the short haired woman gripped the neck of the bottle tighter as she smashed it against the ground, sending shards of glass flying everywhere around her. The jagged edged glinted dangerously, and with an uneasy sigh, she picked up one of the larger pieces near her. She could see red tinges through the clear glass, her fingers already pricked by the pointy edges.

She couldn't feel it, not really.

The bite from the glass seemed little more than a tiny pinch, something hardly there at all. That was a good thing, because she didn't want to feel anything ever again. Not love, not hate…not even remorse. All she wanted to do was lay her head down while the red life-giving fluid in her body slowly drained out of her. She could be okay with that, accepting that fate as her end. Looking at her wrist, she paused.

There was only one concern in her mind, one distant thought, a fear for someone else. Her little brother. She couldn't get his innocent smile out of her memories.

If he were to walk in and see her corpse, he would be ruined. She knew it, and considered again in her drunken haze about moving location. At the very least she could fling herself off of the dormitory building, but she doubted that would really work. A crunch of glass alerted to her the door that had been soundlessly opened.

Two women stood just outside the door frame, one of them Mai hadn't expected.

"What the hell do you think you're-" The girlishly shocked retort was cut off, just as her stride had been. Emerald green eyes widening both in shock and fear when the woman beside her calmly held her back, keeping Natsuki away from her friend. Emerald and crimson met, the fawn haired woman shaking her head, a wordless, negative reply. Natsuki slowly began to nod in understanding, even as her gut told her to run charging in, just to intervene.

Violet eyes watched the exchange, glass still in hand as Mai slowly backed away, the shards cutting into her as she crawled backwards. An almost beast-like terror overtook her movements. Her mind was not her own anymore. Her dreams and wishes were not the things she desired most. Instead, she wanted little more than sleep, rest from everything pulling at her.

"This is what happens when a HiME's power overtakes her." Shizuru murmured quietly, realizing that such a profound madness was something still able to engulf them, even after the events of the carnival had long ended. "That thing under the bed, it isn't completely Mai anymore…but, unless she comes to her senses, that's all of Mai you're ever going to see again." The whispers of what they'd done was not something so easily erased. Shizuru knew that, and had once came face to face with her own demons before. She recalled the madness so perfectly that it made her want to up-heave her lunch.

Instead, she slowly made movements towards the bed. "If you want to kill yourself, that little trinket of yours simply won't do." Slowly, so as not to spook the woman further, she peeked underneath, where a quaking body found itself caught between humanity, and whatever manufactured hell the orphans came from. "You do not want to be a demon, do you?"

There was a kindred spirit lingering in those crimson eyes. "Dragons should have a tougher hide than this." Shizuru began as she examined the beast in front of her. "A thicker skin, both physically and metaphorically." No fear sat between them as Shizuru offered her hand in greeting. "If a serpent can survive, no doubts a dragon can too." An almost sinister chuckle protruding from her lips so quietly, that only Mai could hear her. "You'll be alright, Mai." Shizuru said in a voice that Natsuki couldn't hear, for the biker's own well being. "They won't have to know what you've become, so long as you don't tell them."


	7. Echo

A/N: The Midwestern Media Expo is this weekend, so I may or may not post depending on how busy we get…in the meantime, I'm popping this up. Shout out to Beth, who I haven't had the chance to talk to. My phone is dead, and my internet here is at 1 bar, so skype isn't connecting correctly. I'll get a hold of you when I can. I hope you're having a safe recovery.

**13\. ****Echo  
**(Otome-Verse, romance)

There were downsides to wearing a GEM.

Everyone seemed to be able to be obtrusive, whenever they wanted to, merely by saying something. Shizuru sighed as that truth reared its ugly head again, pulling her from the absolutely maddening kiss she had been wrapped up in.

"I didn't ask you to stop." Mai said shyly, her cheeks painted pink.

"I didn't want to stop either." Shizuru murmured as she lifted her fingers to her ears. "I'm getting some sort of interference again." The weather report was the last thing she wanted to hear as she grasped at her ear lobe, trying to force away the aggravating drone of the news broadcast. "I promise Mai, this will only take a second."

The woman bound to the bed sighed. "See, this is why I'm glad I'm not a pillar. I only have to worry about one interruption, not several."

"That's true." Shizuru admitted as she switched communication over to channel two. "Although, arguably, your master is just as bad."

"Not when she's left to the kitchen staff." Mai replied, resting her head back onto the pillows, sighing gently. "She'll give me hours of time to myself, uninterrupted."

"That's not written in the stars." Shizuru hissed a frustrated breath as soon as her GEM connected. The feed cut to life immediately. Natsuki and Nao were fighting fervently about something. "Shit…that channel is occupied too." She cursed under her breath as she went to the last open communication feed for the school. "There now." Thankfully, it was quiet, and she could proceed with her plan. "That's much better."

"Good, then kiss me already." Mai murmured heatedly.

Her lips were moist with balm, soft to the touch, lingering over a soft, womanly neck. "I'd be happy to." Fawn hair tickled exposed skin as Shizuru leaned down to taste the supple flesh, exposed by her wandering hands. "We'll have to be quiet, Mai. My GEM is tuned into Miss Maria's personal channel."

"What?! Oh, god you've got to be kidding." Mai said quietly, as she tugged at her restraints. "I didn't even know you had access to that channel. At least untie me."

Shizuru smirked at the amused protest, watching as Mai's hands struggled to reach the chains they were bound by. "I would use something else, but you'd burn rope." Shizuru said with a soft laugh. "I want all of you to myself, you see, so if you were being difficult, that simply wouldn't do."

"Undo the shackles." Mai said, her eyes locking with Shizuru's. "Please, I want to feel you too."

"Why should I do that, when you're perfectly at my mercy now?" Shizuru asked her, nipping at the shell of Mai's ear. "Maybe I like the way you are now."

Mai just smirked. "May I remind you, metal melts at hot enough temperatures?" Clinking her wrists for emphasis, she wiggled her fingers. "The cat goddess authorized me before I came to visit."

"Well now, threatening a pillar are we?" Shizuru took note of the truth to Mai's words. Her fingers could call fire easily, a power that came freely to her. "That doesn't bode well for diplomatic immunity."

"We passed diplomatic as soon as you cupped my ass." Mai said with a soft laugh. "Now undo these chains before I melt them."

_Shizuru, this is Maria graceburt speaking. You're needed in Natsuki's office to settle some sort of disagreement._

Shizuru rolled her eyes, as she cupped her hand around her ear. "I'll settle it alright." Shizuru muttered as she grit her teeth.


	8. Jealousy

A/N: Okay, let's get back to some prompts…sorry Beth, lateness is lateness…but, at last one's here now.

**14\. ****Jealousy  
**(Mai-Otome, romance, hurt, comfort)

She liked being coined as one of the sexiest otome to grace Garderobe with graduation. She also took careful measure to let everyone know just how unattainable she truly was.

They were good friends, and only good friends, and that was the story Shizuru was sticking to. She wasn't sure how much longer she could convince herself of that. Doubt began to cloud her mind as Mai leaned over the long counter, murmuring some sort of joke into another woman's ear. The two of them tittered on, ignorant of the world around them. Shizuru wrapped her lips around her straw, sucking hard on the fruity mixed drink in her glass.

She wanted to calm herself, to ease her own mind, but the only thing she could do was leave her drink forgotten as she stood from her seat. She couldn't watch the display anymore as she slapped some money down on the counter between the two women who were abruptly interrupted.

"For the refreshments." She told the waitress with distinct edge.

Mai just smiled at the clipped tone offered to her, and she put a hand over Shizuru's own. "On the house." She said, curving the bill back into Shizuru's palm. She lifted the dainty hands to her lips hissing soft skin.

"Is it now?" Shizuru said, eyes slanting dangerously. "That's not any way to run a noodle shop."

"It's more of a hobby than anything." Mai shrugged. "The people here donate many things in offering, the least I can do is offer them a hot meal."

"That's fine." Shizuru said as she began to walk away. "Just know that the meal had best not be you."

Mai just smiled as she took off her apron, leaving it on the counter. She had to walk only a few steps to catch up with the upset otome. "You came all the way here just to tell me that?" Mai asked quietly. "That's not the Shizuru I know. Natsuki was angry that I never told her the truth…but, I'd thought you would be more rational."

Shizuru swallowed hard. "You're powerful, beautiful, you have a master of your own." She licked her lips. Where had the time gone? "Natsuki told me that you took in a child." Mai was living a life almost every otome dreamed to live, but so few saw the end of that path. So few had everything at their disposal. "An otome and a mother at the same time? It's nearly unheard of."

"I wish I did have everything." Mai said quietly. "You're the bewitching smile, everyone looks to you because you're so charismatic. They know you can handle almost anything. Even your rivals, like Haruka, look up to you. Natsuki's the ice silver crystal, the one who protects the students, and keeps the peace among the nations. She sees things in ways that you and I can't even begin to understand." Mai wondered if she really had the best of both worlds. "I'm still the tragic one. I may look like I have it all, but I don't."

"Yes, Mai." Shizuru murmured. "You do. You just don't see that, you never have."

"Is that really what you think? Ribbon-chan wants to be an otome one day." Mai said quietly, shaking her head. "I don't have the heart to tell her what it's really like. I can't even begin to explain why she shouldn't…and there are so many reasons why. The list is so long, and every single thing is a name. How do you explain names, people…how do you get a child to understand that?"

"You don't." Shizuru replied despondently. "They bring themselves to understand."

"I didn't want to leave Natsuki behind, and you…Shizuru, you know I had my reasons for doing what I did." Mai reached out a hand, wondering if the woman in front of her tasted just as sweet as she recalled. "You may not like them, but you should understand them."

"I really should thank you." Shizuru murmured then. "Natsuki became strong because you left. That pushed her further than your friendship ever could have. She couldn't keep up the friendly rivalry anymore after that. It all had to be on her own merits, she had to stand on her own power…before she wasn't even equal to you…but now…" Shizuru bit her lip, tasted blood on them, and felt the sting of pain. "She's surpassed that damn ruby of yours. You should be by her side, our side with the both of us. That's where you should be!"

"Fate doesn't work that way." Mai said quietly. "I think we all wish that it did, but if that was the case, no one would ever need otome."

"Natsuki's trying to eliminate them." Shizuru said darkly. "She's so tortured now, she's not like you and I. We can accept things that she can't. She's a fighter, you and I, not so much."

"She and I will always be like that." Mai murmured, realizing that such a thing was a strange comfort. "I want her to fight, I want her to dream those things, because you and I both know she can. I want to keep pushing her to be like that."

"I hate you." Shizuru muttered, her throat tightening up on her. "I absolutely detest you." She bit out through clenched teeth. "Why do I love someone like you?"

"I don't know." Mai closed her eyes, nodding as she sighed. "I love you too…I wish I didn't, but I do…we're otome, Shizuru. That's just the way it is."


	9. Waterfall, Bangs

A/N: This must be dumb topic day, but whatever...the first prompt is kind of ambiguous, and I did that intentionally, mostly out of boredom. The second is admittedly kind of a stupid word, but, it was on the list, so here it is. I didn't make the list of words, I'm just following it.

**15.****Waterfall  
**(Generic, Angst)

The warmth of a hand upon her cheek was no more than a ghosting memory. Maybe, it hadn't even been there at all, just a figment of her dearest dreams. Slightly cool and clammy, nervously sliding away tears. If it was just a dream, then it was wanted to go back to that place, that deep prayer that gave her hope, and renewed her faith in her abilities.

However, it just wasn't meant to be.

She shouldn't have been surprised. It wasn't profound, it wasn't even uncanny. It was just the way she was. Just the way she had always been, although, if anyone had truly noticed wasn't something even God could guess. Her strange nature, it stood out…not as a pillar of strength, not as a place of warmth, but as a soul just as fragile as paper.

No sound protruded from her, nothing could be said. Ash rested thickly around her, drifts of it, leaving behind little more than a wasteland of carnage beckoned by anger. Even then, she could not shake herself free of the truth. She refused to acknowledge it. If she did, she'd have to give that feeling a voice.

What the tears on her fingertips signified, what they could possibly mean, those were something best left to stifle what little embers of hope she had left.

It would have been easier if she erased herself from the face of the planet, but fight she did…so hard in fact, that she easily blinded herself to her reason for fighting in the first place. It was easy to be angry at some ambiguous figure of darkness…but, it was much harder to be angry at herself.

The weight was so different, inherently crippling. As she carried herself deeper into the mountains, she passed a trickling little stream. Absentmindedly, her feet marched her into the waters depths, where she lay floating in the shallow flowing liquid.

Once again, tears fell from her eyes, but this time, there was no one to caress them away as they met the river's current.

**16.****Bangs**  
(HiME-Verse, Romance, Drama)

Shizuru had never once considered herself a daft woman. She was neither inept, nor oblivious to the attentions of beautiful women. She found herself able to hold her own, finding herself as desired by others, as she desired them...but, life was far from perfect. The best laid plans always failed her.

There were many thing she wanted to say, apologies she wished she could murmur, but a heated kiss was enough to silence any retort. It died upon her very breath, a sigh dragging away every bit of her resolve. There was nothing more complicated than her mind's refusal to speak what her heart felt. Nothing more infuriating than her inclination to avoid difficult subjects like the plague, forcing them away from her very being with stubbornness, if not skill.

After all, such blankness was not something she was well acquainted with.

So few could break her down, leaving her so open, so aware of her passions. She wanted many things, and denied herself every single one. She could only be the perfect actress for so long, keeping a stoic front was merely borrowed time, and little more. She'd known that from the start, but, she never realized that a broken mask continued to stay broken even after one woman's love had come and gone.

However, Mai seemed to prove that with her every move.

Her touch could make Shizuru crumble. Could force her to shatter into tiny insignificant pieces, and Shizuru found herself shaking from what had to be one such moment in her life. Logically categorized by all of the expected things to come from a making love, it was something she knew should happen. Yet, even so, she had not expected to be so clearly driven over the edge of her own mentality.

Guilt remained, and it yanked at her the moment she noticed violet eyes instead of emerald.

Once again, her choice in a lover toppled over any sanity she thought she may have had, as her core burned once more for a woman who was not, by identity, her most important person. With the shameful truth proved to her, inadequacy nipped at her still fragile being, and she averted her gaze.

"Hey, look at me." The request fell on deaf ears. "Shizuru…it's okay."

Crimson eyes stayed focused on anything else, avoidance at it's finest. Her long bangs shrouded her eyes, placing a fine barrier between them, but soft fingertips were already ridding her of even that much modesty.

"I love you." Mai said it so casually, it was almost like an offhanded statement, rather than an admission from the depths of the heart. Crimson eyes lifted, finding the busty woman above her gazing at her with all of the meaning in the world. All of the meaning her voice lacked seemed so easily conveyed by that one simple gaze.


	10. Death (read the warning, M rating)

A/N: Due to the nature of this theme, it will be posted on its own. Dark themes abound. Read at your own risk.

**17\. ****Death  
**(HiME-Verse, Dark-fic, self-hate, sexual themes)

Death would easier.

She was sure that anyone would have told her that. She even felt convinced of that. Regardless, she had much more fun when truths twisted into deceit, and love trickled into hate. Life was a gamble, perhaps, but one that found itself tantalizing vicious in its own way.

Most people around her were bugs under her gaze, worthless. Merit-less to her cause, they were entirely expendable. Power gave her that authority. Yet, authority shackled her…tied her down and forced her to become the woman that everyone wanted her to be.

A perfect smile tugged at her lips, the way a chain would a slave.

It was a difficult mix…desire…and duty…imposed images upon a backdrop of legacy. Maybe it was the blood that pumped through her…one equally as red as anyone else around her. Maybe that's what made her realize her own worthlessness to the greater whole, because when she thought of that, she found that she rightly didn't care…the eyes of everyone else made her feel empty, like a soul cased in stone.

So, it was with such emptiness, that she found herself pondering the truly cold woman she'd come to befriend. A being she should hate, for all that sound reasoning allowed. Yet, humans were not completely rational, and sound logic wasn't always the most interesting outcome.

Shizuru Fujino was many things, to many people…but to herself, she was merely another cog in the grand scheme. Turning relentlessly against a flawed system. That was all well and good, and she was happy to sit at her father's side at a board room table, dutifully smiling and nodding her head were appropriate. She would even be the first to take a stack a files into her own custody and work late into the night.

Perfection warranted it, and beyond that, she was by and large, a creature of habit.

The perfect mask had but one single crack, and it was one that could be smashed into tiny bits upon the simplest sight…even if it was a sight she hated most. Nipping on her tongue was preferable over losing her temper, but, there was something even better than that. There was that tiny side of her that only a select few knew of.

A darker side birthed by frustration, anger, and loneliness. A side only released in the blackest nights, when her eyes were covered not merely by her own lids, but by a blindfold. It was only then she could feel the kiss of another. Hands bound, naked and exposed as what she truly was, dis-empowered by her own most basic urge.

One of not only primitive lust…but the need to feel alive.

It was always the same routine, angry sex, bordering on abuse…a mutual self-hate clouding their minds, and peppering their bodies with less than gentle adoration for the absurd. Whips and chains were only the start of it before toying with fire became a usual thing within the bag of tricks…and it didn't end there…not even when the tears began to fall from her eyes…not even then would she cry out, nor utter the safe word.

She could feel the breath on her neck, and hear the soft chuckle that slithered its way between each nip sure to leave a mark…but that cruelty was too gentle to really be cruel…and Shizuru was sure deep down, asking for this was doing more damage to the other woman.

…more damage to Mai...

"If we keep doing this, Natsuki will find out…" It was always that harsh laugh. Forced into the spotlight by the true nature of the voice speaking the atrocity.

"I know…" Yet even so, Shizuru willfully ignored that little detail. "I want her to find out."

"Why don't you just tell her then?" Again, that gentle voice seeped through an otherwise painful experience, as hot as the candle wax dripped onto her skin, the burn lingering even after the wax had cooled. Soft kisses showered those burn marks, and pleading fingertips caressed away the soreness left behind from several moments before.

"Why don't you just tell Tate?" Shizuru returned darkly, already knowing the answer.

Mai said nothing, and although Shizuru remained unseeing, she knew there was visible shame playing across Mai's face…and it wasn't the good kind found in their moments of sexual play, either. It was a true profound shame, clawing at the depths of her heart. "I know it won't do any good…" She began as she untied Shizuru's hands and began to walk across to the other side of the room, equally naked, only the candles in the room offering light that flickered across her body. "Tate has his hobbies, I have mine…"

"That's not what I meant." Shizuru answered crisply, pulling away the blindfold, her crimson eyes shining a little more deeply in the dark room than usual. "I'm not talking about our weekends together…"

Without even thinking twice about it, Mai lifted an arm over her breasts. "Does Natsuki have hers?"

"I haven't asked." Shizuru said as she went over to the place Mai stood, pulling at the wrist that kept the mark hidden from view. "She doesn't say…I haven't thought to ask the others."

"They don't…Mikoto doesn't, neither does Nao." Mai felt exposed by implication that reached far beyond her own nakedness…that mark pulled to the surface everything she didn't want to be, and reminded her of events that she would rather forget. "Does this really help?" Mai asked as she ran her fingers down a long scratch mark left behind some time during the night.

It was a great question, but, Shizuru had no answer for it. The window overlooking the city became immensely enthralling. "Natsuki has no interesting in hurting others, or being hurt by them." Distantly, she kept her words as neutral as possible. "Normally, I have no interest in dealing with others…most are too superficial for my liking."

Regardless of how she felt though, there were darker forces at play, a lurking beast that sat dormant and hungered. "Kiyohime is different, she likes to hurt the ones she loves, and, she comes to love the people she ends up hurting."

"But…that's…" Mai shook her head, unwilling to think that the beautiful woman before her was like that creature. "Shizuru, that's not you."

"It's part of me." Shizuru said then, the admittance lingering the same way that it always seemed to. Doubt aimed at her words stung more than her own regret at saying the truth. "Kiyohime, she's part of me…part of myself that I don't want, but, it is there none the less. Just like your own mark comes with its own troubles, mine comes with Kiyohime."

"That's true, but Kagutsuchi is my friend, not my enemy." Mai retorted, her denial giving her more strength than belief ever could. "He's only ever tried to help me, he's not like some of the others…"

"No, perhaps not…but he's strong." It was a mere statement, nothing more. "That blind sense of justified power terrifies you." Yet, she could see the hurt it caused, violet blinking rapidly to push away any emotion, vividly bringing the shock to the surface. "That he might act in your honor isn't something you amuse lightly."

Mai swallowed hard. "I don't want everyone to be afraid of me, you know what Kagutsuchi can do."

Shizuru grinned at that. "If we were ever able to call more than their voices to us, I'm sure I'd be able to beat you…however as it stands the point is moot. We're monsters, and the moment we tell a single soul about that, we're doomed."

"Does Natsuki know why you sneak off every Saturday night?" Mai asked then, gritting her teeth, and bracing herself for the worst.

"Probably." Shizuru shrugged, the black van was outside again, and she knew that meant she'd been followed. "Natsuki has her ways of keeping an eye on me, just as I keep an eye on her…she's overly protective, I'm overly possessive, it's really two sides of the same coin when you think about it."

Death, it was so much easier than this…so much more blissful than life's demonic game.


	11. Trust

Was going to wait until December to plunk this here since December 8th onward my friend is really going to need this content. However, one good turn deserves another…so here is one early. As for why I haven't touched my other story, it's simple. I can't seem to please everyone, so I'm going to please the people I can, who actually appreciate it.

Beth Cyra, thank you for being such a great friend to me.

**18\. Trust **  
(Generic romance)

Being a lesbian, that just didn't sound right.

It didn't sound like the person she wanted to be, but Mai had to admit, she'd found more than one woman attractive. She hated labels though, and she refused to use them at all.

What lead them to this point wasn't exactly something she would have placed her bets on. In fact, the gamble is what stranded her here. It wasn't like she could just write off her feelings though, pure impulse or not.

That kiss had burned fire into her belly, just like game that she was still learning, though the cards had long since been abandoned. A royal flush left upright and ignored among a sea of booze and snacks.

It was just a game at first, but now, Mai wasn't so sure anymore.

A blush painted her cheeks, timid and unsure as they kiss, eyes closed. Feeling, but not seeing, the emotion laid bare between them. The room was dark, soft caresses soothing away the fear in the air, but crimson eyes opened anyway.

"We don't have to do this." Shizuru said, sorting out the messy, unkempt carrot colored hair that got in the way of violet eyes. "I can choose a different reward."

Mai knew it was a lie though, a mask thrown up out of kindness. She shook her head. Her first time with a woman, she wanted that woman to be strong enough to carry the weight of that choice. More so, Mai needed her to. She needed to feel something.

Anything…

"This…" Mai gestured between herself and the taller woman. "It's just a game right? Something for fun."

Shizuru glanced over to the door, where Natsuki's things were missing. Chances were, she wouldn't be back until morning, and Shizuru had to admit, she almost wanted to see the flustered look on her friend's face. Natsuki had never handled sexuality well, in spite of being such a habitually sensual creature.

Shizuru grinned. "A game? I'm not sure about that, but it'll be fun either way."

Mai grew pensive. "I have never felt like this. I don't know how I feel about this…"

Shizuru swallowed hard, unsure what to think of those words as they drifted in the air. "About me, you mean."

"You love Natsuki." Mai said simply.

So it was true then, Shizuru thought to herself. Mai was interested in other women. Further, Mai proved Natsuki's suspicions correct. Mai had a thing for Shizuru, and that blush was as cute as it was fierce.

"Natsuki and I aren't exclusive." Shizuru finally said, getting to the heart of the matter. "We're not even dating. I don't even love Natsuki, I just love the idea of what she means to me. We have something that no one else has, but, those qualities rest within our friendship, not our bedroom frolics. Why, does that bother you?"

Mai frowned, her hands balling into fists, tangling into the fabric of Shizuru's uniform. "It's more than that, I can't explain it well."

"But, you can explain something, can't you?" Shizuru asked, feeling lost in the gaze Mai had given her. A near rejection was a judgement Shizuru refused to accept.

"I don't want to." Mai answered, hating herself the moment those words fell from her mouth.

"Do you want this at least?" Shizuru asked softly.

Mai licked her lips, her gaze falling to the bed in the far corner of the room, her breath unsteady as her quivering lips slipped open and closed, silent thoughts becoming murmured words. One step backwards, then another and another, until finally the back of her knees hit the bed.

It wasn't a hard choice, not really.

She shrugged, nervously shedding the vest that covered her. "The only thing I truly know is this; I don't know if I want too, but, I know that I need to. For myself, and for you."

That simple sentence alone, punctuated her free fall onto the cotton sheets below, dragging Shizuru down deeper into the pits of demise.


	12. Reconciliation, Music, Element

**19\. Reconciliation  
**(HiME-verse, dark-fic, but not too dark, Shizuru-centric.)

I'm a sinner, but it's not god that I've sinned against.

It's not my peers either, neither enemies nor allies.

Unfortunately, it's myself.

Love is a word that drenches itself with shortcomings, and knowing this I tried to gather those four little letters into something compact. Something that I could squeeze in the palm of my hand. No ownership would ever prepare me for the truth behind the statement.

The lie that I made for myself, that I could not love, that I would not...

It was dust in my mind, ash in my hands, because I had indeed fallen so deeply in love. I was at the end of my rope, in more ways than one. I'd resorted to begging, because I had no other way to find my way out of my own sadness. I wanted to be saved, I needed to be.

"You can have what you want. I'd give it to you, no matter what it is. Anything, as long as you can take away my failures, clean them away. Just as you've done for others, please, do that for me." I would plead on my hands and knees, if I thought for an instant I'd be forgiven. In the end, I'm my own worst enemy, and no amount of soothing away the blemishes of my past can save me.

I've made terrible errors, they've added up, and left a murky undertow in the wake of such realities.

A hand touched mine, and I lifted my eyes from the city streets below.

She spoke to me gently. "I'm not a bargaining chip, you can't use me that way."

As if I would ever try that…

Still, Mai had a point, I was a very manipulative person when I wanted to be. I could be so many things, and violet eyes were sure to scan through my every waking plot, to see if the intent was mercy or pain. I wanted everything, Natsuki's acknowledgement of my existence, Mai's ability to captivate a great many people, for better or worse, the tenacity to do what I wanted, when I wanted…

There were so many things I desired, so many tiny little truths, but none more so than the blonde who looked at me with such disgust that I was no more than a mere bug under her foot.

Mai had a way with words, at least when it came to abrasive people. I wanted her to bridge the gap. "Won't you talk to her for me?"

She shook her head, and once again, I found myself denied. "You need to do that yourself."

Natsuki wanted me to make peace.  
Mai expected that peace to come from my own freewill and intent.  
Mikoto found me interesting, and Nao thought I'd lost my mind.  
Haruka was the last straw on my thinning desire to even become worthy of redemption.

"I can't, my sins, they're too deep."

Yet, even as a said that, it wasn't hate that I saw in her eyes, her hand was warm, as was her breath, and her lips were soft as she kissed me.

"Maybe they are, but so what? It doesn't matter anymore."

**20\. Music  
**(Romance, fluff, Mai-centric)

She plays the piano, her eyes closed with a soft smile on her face.

Truly at peace.

Those little moments mean the world to me, and although I know that from the deepest parts of my being, part of me wonders why?

Is it just circumstance? The way the keys feel to her fingers, or the fact that the morning is warm? Is it because of her audience? It's only me here, but, if that were so, I'd be happy.

I want to see her smile. I want to know that I'm important to her. That every single reason I have for being the type of person that I am, that all of it stems from her. I want to know that. I want that to be the greatest part of me.

My love for her, being what it is. Raw essence of the sounds in my ears.

No words.

No wavering voice.

Just the sounds of the music she chooses to make, the tinkling little high notes that are far too fleeting. The low ominous pattering beats that unnerve me, making me want to be near her…even the constant, mid-toned melodies, the ones that hold steady.

All of it, all of her.

**21\. Element  
**(HiME-verse, Mai-centric)

It doesn't matter what it is, only that it exists.

The symbol of feeling, in and of itself. It could be a necklace, a letter, even a ring. It just needs to be something, tangible proof that an emotion so tender once existed. For the HiME, it was just a tiny little dot high in the sky. A little glowing spark that instilled fear, and hope. It was so small, for the emotions that it pulled from deep within us, and to look upon the night sky now, is to remember that it was once there.

Looking over us, watching our every move.

I wonder what it sees sometimes, or rather, what it saw.

What image did we, as HiME, paint in that illusionary battle?

It was so real, wasn't it?

Unbelievable, I know, but, some things in life just are. I want to believe in the impossible, to know that it exists. I want to feel more than just her hand mine, wordlessly looking up to the same sky that I do. I want to have something more than that, between only us.

Those unquestionable, unchangeable facts, that sit before us like the stars in the universe.

Part of me wants the one thing Natsuki had; the ability to look onto those far away crimson eyes. I want to pull the woman seeing with them back down to earth.

It's just that Shizuru looks to the sky in fear, and I look to it in hope.

Even when holding hands, sometimes that bridge just isn't enough. You need something else, some other element.

It doesn't matter what it is, so maybe a kiss will do.


	13. Swagger

**22\. Swagger  
**(Prompt reason: Adventures in the food court one incredibly hot afternoon in august inspired this.)

"It's just a thing..."

"A thing?"

"Yeah, that's right, a thing..."

Everybody had a 'thing'. That one rather exclusive gift that made people turn their heads in awe. Sometimes, it was an act of misfortune that made onlookers stare in horror, other times, it was drop dead beauty. Sometimes, it was just the way a person swayed their hips.

"Mai..."

"Yeah, Natsuki?"

"You're acting like a creeper."

"Am not!"

"Are so..."

"Leave her alone, pup, Mai's too far gone to give a shit. Besides, it's not a bad view, got to admit."

"Damn it Nao..."

Any way one looked at it, there was just something about the way that woman's hips swayed when she walked. That little pop was just enough to capture the fleeting glance of the passersby, and Mai was definitely looking.

Mai grinned from beyond her thin rimmed sun glasses. "Single, I'm calling it now."

Natsuki barked a laugh. "Get real, she's taken."

"With the way her ass shakes?" Nao inclined her head, an all too gleeful smirk on her lips. "If she's taken, she's not happy, and she knows she can do better."

"Not everyone sleeps around, Nao." Natsuki sighed dejectedly. "Give her the benefit of the doubt."

Two sets of green eyes met in cocky defiance, bit it was Nao who spoke. "A woman like that, she's got more than one. Outta your league, Mai."

Mai sucked hard on her smoothie before delicately licking her lips. "Those are some tight hip huggers, she wants to get noticed. She is flaunting her ass, and I'll be damned not to be looking."

Natsuki all but gave up. "Well, no shit, her ass is partly hanging out. My only point is; not every chick that dresses like that wants to get hit on by anyone who passes by."

Mai shot her best friend a knowing look. "And my only point is; if you don't want to be looked at, don't wear leather that cups your ass. That's all I'm saying."

"She's wearing jeans…"

"Who says I'm talking about tall and sexy?"

Looking down, Natsuki came to the realization that quite frankly horrified her. "Damn it, Mai!"

"If the shoe fits…"

"Boots, in her case, Tokiha." Nao added with a smirk.

Natsuki rolled her eyes, going back to her lunch. "Well, fuck you both then."

Nao brushed her off, digging her hands into her pockets. "Sorry Kuga, not my kink. Not Mai's either by the looks of it."

"Oh god…" Emerald eyes widened in near horror. "Mai you're not really checking that chick out, are you?"

"Guilty as charged." Mai said with a grin.

Nao raised a slender eyebrow. "Do you really need to be hitting on the waitress here of all places?"

Mai nodded thoughtfully. "You know, we really need to come here more often."

Natsuki followed Mai's line of sight and sighed. "Don't ogle on the damn smoothie queen girl…"

"I'm not…" Mai said, sucking on her strawberry smoothie. "I'm eying that help wanted poster she's standing by. Time to put my talents to use ladies, I'll see you later."

"She's lost her god damned mind…"

Nao snorted as she pulled Mai's dorm keys from off the table. "I'd be more worried about her virginity if I were you, Kuga…come on, let's hit the dorm."


	14. Problem

**23\. Problem  
** (Implied Mai-Shizuru-Natsuki trio.)

"Oh gosh, Natsuki we have a problem. A bra covers more than this. Way more..." Mai lamented as she pinched the edges of her bikini top. "Talk about major side boob."

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "I told you we should have gone shopping."

"After what happened last time you and I walked into the women's apparel store?" Mai asked with a deep blush on her face.

Natsuki blushed even deeper, swallowing hard as she realized what Mai was talking about. "Hey...hey, hey…no… that was a complete coincidence. I promise, that's not usually how my shopping trips go. That kind of stuff… I mean it's not like…" Natsuki winced, unsure how to elaborate, so she immediately shut her mouth.

Mai just smiled, sifting through her drawers for a better fitting top. "She gave me her phone number. Put it on the inside of one of the bra cups when we were at the checkout. Are you saying she doesn't do that very often?"

"Shizuru?" Natsuki's blush turned redder. "She uh…I mean, it's not like she does that to everyone. I guess you could say, Shizuru has an eye for beauty, and um… things that capture her attention…"

"Say no more Natsuki." Mai said with a wink. "She's meeting up with us later."

"At the beach?!" Natsuki balked.

That was a bad idea, borderline terrible.

"Well, yeah, Natsuki." Mai sighed, pulling out a better fitting top. "That's where we'll be going today, right?"

"You invited my pervert friend…who touches you sexually…to the beach…" Natsuki couldn't fathom the implication. "You do realize that she's a lesbian, right? I mean, that wasn't just _flirting _she was doing…you know that right?"

"Do you have a problem with me seeing her, Natsuki?" Mai asked, turning to her friend. "Say the word, I'll back off. I promise, no further questions asked."

"It's not like that…" Natsuki scratched the back of her neck. "You're that into her?"

Mai shrugged, bringing a finger to her lips as she thought about that. "I'm not disinterested…I know the two of you have a friendship with benefits thing going on, but-"

"No we don't!" Natsuki barked, denying it immediately. "It's really not like that."

"Then what is it like?" Mai asked pointedly.

Natsuki rolled her eyes. That was complicated. "We're not…I mean…Shizuru has a really, really hard time keeping her hands to herself, so…sometimes…I mean I don't mind when she does it…I just think it's weird."

"I like that she takes the lead." Mai told Natsuki then. "So if you don't have a problem with it, she can have her way with me whenever she wants."

"I'm really not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?" Natsuki asked.

"Afraid not, Natsuki." Mai grabbed her purse and led her friend out the door. "Until you say she's yours, she's fair game, so let's all have a nice date today, okay?"

It took all of three seconds for Natsuki's mind to catch up with her. "Who the hell said this was a date!"


	15. Table

**24\. Table  
**(Generic, Mai-centric)

The candles were almost burnt out, and dinner had long grown cold. The music playing on repeat had already cycled through at least twice, maybe even three times. Frost had begin collecting on the windows as the night's chill began. Even the fireplace grew sleepy, as the roaring fire began to dwindle.

How long had she waited?

She hadn't a clue.

How many times had she gone back to the kitchen to check the time?

She'd lost count.

How many heartbeats passed her by while holding her cell phone in her hands?

Ten…twenty…fifty…a few hundred, who knew anymore?

Mai sat in her place, hours ticked by, and no sign of Shizuru. It shouldn't have really mattered, it was just a normal night after all. There was no reason to worry about it. Work had probably kept the woman up late again. Mai knew that it tended to do that sometimes. They were two separate entities, in spite of their desire to be driven women capable of taking on the world. Mai enjoyed working too, tossed herself headfirst into it on a daily basis, but at the end of her shift she came home.

Her life was filled with other things, hobbies, friends, family. There was life outside of her career, just as vibrant and exciting. It was easy to forget that other people weren't so lucky...that other people, even her lover, needed to work, because those all too important things were simply too difficult to merely accept blindly, wholeheartedly.

Shizuru was still learning how to do that, the concept completely new to her in many aspects. Old habits tended to die hard, like an addiction. Working late into the night, that was just one of many.

A door creaked open, and Mai looked up from her place, drying her eyes on a napkin. She wouldn't let Shizuru see her cry, wouldn't let her know how worried she'd been. Instead, her smile was as wide as it could be. No indication, no trace, of the tears on her napkin.

"Welcome home!" She greeted without even a second thought.


	16. Burn

**25\. Burn  
**(Romance, M-rated, Mai/Shizuru, sensory deprivation-play)

Shizuru had always known that Mai was too hot to handle. Her entire attitude was fiery, a roaring blaze that either consumed all within her path, or warmed their hearts, one soul at a time. Mai burned, painfully, pleasantly, and there was nothing to do but to accept that heat for all that it was…even when the woman was irate, even when she was upset, cold, and angry. That too, was an unbearable fire at times.

A blissfully intense burn, hints of that fire left behind.

There was one thing even worse than all of it, one thing more consuming, and one thing more maddening…one thing that dissolved the mind into an endless pit of emptiness that was once known as restraint. And in the bottom of that pit, a well of desire lingered, a cauldron of those flames burning so hotly than not even the most wonton woman would dare to survive the heat of it.

Not without giving in, not without succumbing to the force of that desire.

Shizuru's body shook, at war with her, her eyes unseeing as a soft kiss met her lips. She wanted to hold onto that feeling, the press of that kiss, the heat of Mai's breath, and the taste of wine that lingered there. She couldn't damn well see or hear, so she had to feel…feel...or be void of even that much. Shizuru feared to be left alone to that quiet.

With the quakes of her body came the cold reality that she missed her sight… missed seeing the look of violet gazing into her, even though Shizuru knew that Mai was grinning.

She could feel the tug of Mai's lips, a smile into the kiss…simple easy, friendly, kind…playful…and those teeth that nipped at her…those teeth were not so soft and supple. Those tiny bites along her jaw was left as a promise, a vow, to not leave her entirely void of satiation…but, there was a condition laced within those tiny nips, those intensely hot kisses, that nearly dirtied the both of them.

Mai was the one in control.

She would have to wait, would have to endure this torture, until Mai decided to grant mercy. Another hot hiss sealed their fate, and then Mai disappeared from her proximity entirely…but not for long. Fingers wetted themselves in heady arousal, but fled from the scene quickly. Shizuru hardly had the chance to buck her hips, as an open invitation, the all too welcome touch disappearing. Those two maddening digits, they returned soon after, and that kiss continued.

Wine, and arousal at the tip of Mai's tongue, a mix that was too much like an addiction.

Sex, the scent of it, rolling off of them. Her fingers gripped Mai's short tresses, pulling Mai in, keeping her close when a throaty moan tore its way from her. Mai swallowed it, and the near mewl that followed soon after. Shizuru knew she was being loud, knew that Mai knew of her needs, even as she spoke her mind. "Please…" soundless to her own ears, a plea to Mai's.

A wafting, helpless plea. One that could only understood between the hitches of breath. "Please…gods….please."

But, Mai kissed her again, her pace steady, as she had her way with the woman who could do no more than slowly fall to pieces, crumbling and melting into the burning desire that would surely swallow her whole.


	17. Flame

**26\. Flame  
**(Romance: under 80 words challenge.)

Dance barefoot in the waves, smile at me.

Just like that, with your hair pushed behind your ear. That smile, your smile, give it to me. Make it for me, only.

Step up to me and kiss me, feet in the sand, toes curling in the sun kissed warmth, and set me on fire, until I'm no more…

Because…

Then…

I'll be…

Yours…

My dearest flame walker…


	18. Phone

**27\. Phone  
**(Mai centric)

Violet eyes were too tired to see clearly, the whole world around her was blurry. There was something wrong with her, her mind staggered, and she closed her phone, her head coming to rest on her pillow, hidden by her knees. A tiny little ball, a closed little world. It felt awful, and she didn't understand why. Maybe, maybe she was beginning to go crazy.

She'd plead insanity, if only it could help her now...her mind frazzled, and grasping at straws, broken logic aside. Why did she love Shizuru? Mai wasn't sure as she lifted her eyes to the dark room, and then curled back up once more.

Why did she want to love her? Why did she need to love her? Why did that damn blinking phone imply so much more?

She cursed helplessly under her breath, opening her eyes as she tried to look at the object once more. There wasn't enough answers to her questions, not enough voices in the depths of her mind to laugh at her idiocy…there was nothing. Not a hint, nor a murmur…absolutely nothing.

Only her own thoughts, and no-one around to convey them to.

She flipped open her phone once more, her thumb hovering over the call button, but she could not bring herself to do that much…to answer the begging of her deepest desires.

She closed the pone again and rested there in the dark. Her own shadows, demons, and nightmares clawing at her back…

Although, nothing was truly there…nothing at all.


	19. Snow (M rated read warning)

**28\. Snow  
**(Shizuru centric, darkfic)  
**WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH AHEAD**

I knew it was bad when I called her name and a peaceful smile fell onto her purple lips. She rested there unmoving, I held her in my arms, felt the taste of her kiss, the coldness of her frozen lips one last time as her fingers gripped onto my jacket. It was a race against time, and I had already failed. Snowflakes in her hair, along her brows and long lashes, too perfect.

Too haunting.

How long had she been out here? How could she have lost her color and vibrancy? Why did she lose them? Why, was I not able to come here sooner, to protect her from the chill?

_"__I love you…."_

Her words hardly escaped into the cold air, and although I felt the same, I could not bring myself to say it back to her. Those words were too much like a goodbye. There was nothing I could do, she was too far gone, and I knew that, so I stripped myself of my coat, gloves, and mittens. there was no time left.

Covering her as well as I could, trying to keep whatever life left in her glowing, until we could both burn out together, I held her in my arms once more. We shivered together.

"I know, Mai, I'll be there soon."

Two embers, snuffed out by winters icy chill….


	20. Time

**29\. Time  
**(Shizuru POV, romance, slight angst)

Desire is a strange thing. I've always felt that way, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one. To explain the feeling is something rather difficult, a quandary, I feel I simply cannot place. There's a discrepancy in the logic, a flaw in the plan. I'm powerless to its most basic call.

I've been coined as one of those hopeless romantics before. Well, more aptly an idiot. Hilariously, I'm inclined to agree. I do tend to let my heart overtake my mind, let my fear, anxieties, dreams, and even my anger control my urges. All of those staggering emotions tend to do the talking for me, carrying away any preconceived notion of my blue-blooded heritage into the recesses of vulgarity.

It isn't that I use words unbefitting of my stature, but rather, that my actions are much louder than my voice could ever be.

This usually works in my favor, as the woman resting in bed next to me could attest to, if she wasn't buried underneath the covers. Mai's sound asleep, resting peacefully at my side, guard down. Removed from her being entirely, something that just wasn't the case two years ago.

What brought us to this night?

Time.

A slow crawl of it, gentle actions, gentler words. Space, arguments, the whole nine yards. What brought us to this night was young love, on the edge of lunacy and tenacity. It was a love proclaimed messily, and accepted equally so. It is a flawed love, one in which I am usually the aggressor in all things I desire. Mai usually takes my whims into consideration, and normally at great stride. She's good for me, soothing to my otherwise manic, never resting paranoia.

There is one thing though, one tiny thing that shouldn't mean all that much, but to me it matters a great deal. I want her in the strictest sense. I want to feel her body against mine. In the two years of our romance, we've remained celibate, and I have no idea how to cross that line.

Actually, I don't even know if I should...

I guess that too, is a factor of time.


	21. Vanity

**30\. Vanity  
**(Inspired buy the last prompt, "Time". Takes place in Mai's POV)

She's tossing and turning again, I can feel the tug of the covers. She's driving herself crazy, somehow. Why doesn't she just roll over, wake me up or...well, something.

I have never once felt anyone touch me the way I've always wanted; body and soul pitted against desire and logic. There's something to that, I think...that mindlessness, tossed into an array of madness that I've so often read about, but never once reached the heights of myself. Left bare, breathless, and at peace after the fact.

I want those things. Part of me needs them, and the older I get, I share the same vain fears of my peers.

The same silly, awkward questions carry me to a place of discomfort. Am I lacking some sort of attractive feature? Am I too overweight, too thin, too curvy or top-heavy, does my figure somehow displease her? No, I'm just being paranoid. It's something else…something that as my usual Saturday night begins, with my fingers drifting lower to tend my own needs brings me to pause.

It _is_ something else that bothers Shizuru, and even though I realized that little detail before…I've never once put that into the context that I did just now.

Something keeps her from touching me, even though I know some part of her wants that too. I know that because Shizuru wouldn't be in this bed next to me resting if she didn't. Shizuru wouldn't be here at all, if she didn't love me. She's not that kind of person. I sigh as find myself more confused at this realization. Shizuru's not really a talker when it comes to the dark side of things.

She just, well, accepts it.

All of it, without a doubt, without question, and without judging me. She doesn't like to give me lengthy explanations as to why. She just smiles, kisses me, and tells me it'll be okay. Since she trusts me so implicitly, I try to do the same for her, and I'll let her work out her problems on her own.


	22. Worry

**31\. Worry  
**(A sort of companion piece to "time" and "Vanity", Shizuru POV)

Why do I love this woman, in spite of how insane she makes me?

To be honest, I have no idea how to answer my own question. I don't want to have one. All I want is to be touched, by her, torn into shreds, by her. Even if it's only once, I need to experience that. I need those raw feelings that no other person on the face of this planet can give me.

As my hand falls to her neck, I gently move her short tendrils of hair out of the way. I kiss the nape of her neck and let my fingers crawl along her abdomen. Trying to wake her from slumber is hard. Abrupt awakenings worry her, and I neither wish to startle or spook her in my effort.

"What?" Her single word answer is soft as she looks over her shoulder. I see confusion in her eyes, but I've already concluded her real meaning. That duality that so defines her. Those violet eyes seem to say it the best. _"What's wrong?"_

I swallow hard, knowing I have to be careful. Mai's isn't one for idle seduction, that's blown up in my face several times before. What I once took for nervousness, I now understand as simple reluctance. My words here, those are what matter to her. I settle for the very basic, very blunt truth. "I'm lonely," I say, leaving any assumption up to her interpretation.

She can take it as she wants.

She rubs her eyes, a desired outcome as she turns fully to face me. "Well, I'm up now, so no reason to be lonely anymore right?" As she says this, she caresses my cheek, her thumb runs across my lip. She's concerned, I can tell.

I seemed to have worried her after all.


	23. Taste

**32\. Taste  
**(80 word challenge; part of the five senses theme)

Salty and bitter, tears and tea.

Between each breath, lingering moment by moment, the quaking over her lips halting the both of them is as she pulls away. She turns back to her tea, dark amber liquid sloshing warm and soothing in the cup. A way to hide, and throw up a barrier.

A hand stops her, pulling her into an embrace.

The tea forgotten on the floor, as they hold each other into the night.


	24. Touch, Sight, Sound, Smell

**33\. Touch **  
(80 word challenge; part of the five senses theme)

Dancing fingers along flesh, and a need not easily quieted.

The shiver of a spine when lips linger just a little too long, hot breath spilling over sensitive skin.

A question between them, feral and uncertain. No words spoken, but a surefire promise given. A plea hushed when a shirt falls onto the floor. a smug smile, gratification in the simple act. One that had no exact reason, nor a purpose.

It was just action, emotion guiding advances and retreats.

**34\. Sight **  
(80 word challenge; part of the five senses theme.)

Violet eyes blink, close, reopen...and close. Once more, shutting out the world. She didn't need to see, she could feel, and hope desperately that she would be understood. Pray, that the tears upon her cheeks, the dots of water on the floor…that all of it would be enough.

She took a step forward, eyes still closed, stumbling blind until warm arms caught her…

Shizuru…

Mai would know that embrace anywhere, and slowly opened her eyes.

Crimson held apology, and violet answered back...

Acceptance.

**35\. Sound **  
(five senses theme)

"Shizuru!"

A name called, footsteps stopped, a sad retreat halted.

Words fell from them both, before one paused and sighed. That simple action booming to the silence.

"I'm sorry…"

"I love you."

"Please don't go."

"I have to."

Footfalls, like a drum, one woman chasing another, throwing herself into the taller girl until both of them were against the wall.

"No…" and just like that, the shorter woman buried her head in shame, hiding her face in Shizuru's purple shirt.

Sweet nothings, soft words…it would bind them…it had to.

**36\. Smell  
**(five senses theme)

It was the roses in her garden, the tea she brewed, the perfume she favored, and the detergent she washed her bedding in.

All of it made up the things Mai loved most, those little reminders. They meant so much. She scratched off the calendar, waiting for when Shizuru would return home. When she would walk through the door, carrying takeout from the airport, and smell like that minty hotel shampoo. The indications that she was home again, that, the bed would be warm.

Tonight though, the best thing she could do was button up that blasted white shirt. It was too much like Shizuru's embrace, and yet, not nearly warm enough...even though it smelled of jasmine and tea.


	25. Tell

**37\. Tell  
**(Shiz/Mai, Romance Drama… Playing with dialogue.)

"Don't lie to me…" – Despondent.

"I'm not…" – Another lie.

"Shizuru…" – Searching for the truth.

"Mai…" A coy deception.

"I love you, Shizuru…" Honesty.

"I…can't return your feelings." A bold faced denial.

"You can." – Insight. "You do, Shizuru."

"Do I?" – A question grounded in fear.

It was a matter of want and desire pitted completely against need and denial. A fear of rejection slipping in-between them, because this emotion, insane as it was, was not something either of them handled well. They both loved too deeply, too fully, to ever really know how to navigate the four letter word. It might as well have been a curse. In some ways, it was a curse...one that they could not, and would never escape.

"I need you." – A press for an outcome. "You need me too, we've been through this."

"I don't." – A firm repression. "I want to have sex with you, so I do. It ends there Mai, I don't…"

"You don't what?" – Anger, digging deeper, igniting pain and rage.

"I don't need you in my life." – A cold response, nearly choking her.

"I don't believe that…" – Icy, white hot, murmured, shrouded in sadness.

"I..I love Natsuki…" – A broken reason. A failed reality. "She's the love of my life…"

"But I'm…the one you come to." – Shyness, gentleness, warmth. "We talk, you know…we really do, and I think I know you pretty well. You care about Natsuki, but, is it love? Can you really say that, when you come to me the way you do?"

Shared words, secretes, hopes, and dreams, exchanged in an embrace that neither of them would be afforded otherwise. It was, in some ways, it's own personal hell. In other ways, it was nirvana. Perfect, in every way.

"…" Voiceless, no words, no apologies, no commitment.

"If you love her, you can go." – Defeat. "I…I won't stop you."

Running away, that's what it would be, so Shizuru didn't move. She didn't open the door and walk away. She merely stayed her place, even though promised herself…she would never say those words…never again…

"I don't love you…" – A plea to be understood. "I don't…"

"Yes…you do…" – A rift crossed, a gap closed…

Victory won….


	26. When

**38\. When  
**(An off the beaten path, piece…slight horror elements.)

When was it that she came here?  
When was it, that she, creature of all creatures, found the draw to be here?  
When was it, exactly…that she first felt the call of the wild nature within the pit of her soul?  
When was it that she, only one of many succubae, came to call this place home?

Why did they feel so compelled?

Shizuru didn't know, but, she felt particularly emboldened by the taste of pure desire as it lingered on her lips, the lifeblood of her species, the draw of her people. That such a fine taste would call to her, and that she would find and answer it…she felt strangely about it.

Again, forced to ponder why…

When was it, that she chose this little pet of hers, this human?  
When was it, that she, of all creatures, decided to warm this woman's bed?  
When was it, exactly…that she first discovered that she could shackle her desire, pin it down to the depths of her mind, leaving it there?  
When was it, that she chose willing to leave this pitiful human creature alive?

"Shizuru…"

And when was it that she discovered, that her name, spoken in such a way, sounded like the sweetest thing in the world.


	27. Scapegoat

A/N: So begins a series of vampire based one-shots.

**39\. Scapegoat **  
(Angst, vampire based prompt.)

There was dishonesty in her smile…insincere and unsure of even her own mind at the time. Maybe, that's just the way things had to be, but Mai pushed through her emotions either way, unwilling to let her worries consume her. She forced them, demanded them to bend to her will.

Shizuru smiled back, equally weak. Crimson eyes were set aglow in the dim firelight, as she gave her lover's hand a squeeze.

Mai squeezed back. "What are you waiting for?"

Shizuru didn't really know, struggling to say something, anything. "You don't know how much this…between us…how much it really means to me." There were no words for how she felt, and yet, she could tell that Mai was in pain…willing to trust, wiling to be hurt…maybe even destroyed. "I'm a monster, you know."

"I know…" It was something Mai couldn't deny. "But...that's okay."

Mai was nervous, her fingers trembled across the cool flesh of Shizuru's skin…a dark, old scar just along the side of her neck made Mai gulp. It was all the proof she needed as to what Shizuru really was. Not that it was the only sign. Shizuru's sharp fangs really hide the matter, and because Mai was human, she had to be careful around sharp objects.

Even the tiniest cut could flair Shizuru's instincts…

It happened the other night, and Mai, who had never once needed to be afraid of anyone, had to be afraid of Shizuru. She was not above baser impulses, or pure instinct. Regret, it filled crimson pools so utterly that Mai had to be the one to cross the divide…cross it, or turn her back on the vampire, merely for what she was…after all, her bloodlust didn't define her.

It as merely an element, a fact of their relationship, and nothing more...even though, admittedly, it made things difficult.

"You can touch me." Mai told her quietly.

"Are you afraid of me?" Shizuru asked, her fingers finding their way under Mai's chin.

Mai hesitated, but then spoke, her lips pulled into thin line. "Yes."

Shizuru bent over slightly, looming over Mai, wondering why this human woman took such a fancy in this dangerous game…Shizuru, not a master of her own predilections on the matter could only obey what she thought to be a demand of trust between them. The kiss, slow and tentative, built up an unfathomable heat in the back of her mind…the only warmth she ever experienced. She could taste Mai fully, and the feel of Mai's tongue at the very tip of one of her fangs made Shizuru realize just how bad she wanted to bite down…just how much she wanted to consume this human woman…take her until there was nothing left.

And yet, to do that, would be like grasping a hot coal in the palm of her hand…doing so might be a show of her power, proof of her strength and superiority…but in the end, the action in and of itself would have been made pointless. The embers would be sniffed out entirely…gone...only cold ashes in the wake of it all. If she devoured Mai, the woman would be the selfsame.

She had to submit to Mai's curiosity, show the woman that she was more than just her animalistic desire to feed. Trust that the beautiful woman in her arms knew what she was doing…Mai pulled away, and Shizuru hoped…prayed…that…in spite of it all…

Mai still loved her.

"Are you afraid of me, even still?"

"I will always be a little afraid…" Mai said, as she once again felt Shizuru's nose trailing along the nape of her neck. She knew Shizuru could smell her blood pulsing from underneath her skin. "Don't let that stop you from holding me now…"


	28. Injury

A/N: In theory, this could take place before scapegoat…and strangely enough, these kinds of prompts really make me want to write a proper vampire fic between these characters, because it would be a very off the beaten path type of story…

**40\. Injury**  
(More vampire stuff)

It was unbelievably sticky, red, and had the smell of something metallic…wet iron and other minerals.

Mai held the gauze to her hand, sitting in the waiting room…Shizuru, she knew, pacing back and forth on the hospital's roof. The poor creature that she was, could not permit herself inside such a building. The idea was dangerous for everyone involved, so, she had to force herself to remain outside. It was not unlike what a person would do to a pet dog in a kennel...one that was so feral that it could become rabid, under the right conditions.

Shizuru growled low in her throat, a half whine, and frustrated cry of aggravation. Trying, and failing to keep her mind at ease. She couldn't be around Mai, not even during the slightest injury. Doing so would cause Shizuru's lust for the fluid to rise to the surface…during times like these, the best support Shizuru could gift, was a mask of indifference. It hurt, knowing that. Knowing that she could do no more, than act as if she couldn't care less.

Direct interest seemed to scare Mai, and concern only bothered the carrot top, as if she were placing a heavy burden on the vampire she loved.

Shizuru was on the roof though, tormented by the fact that Mai would need stiches. She would have to contain herself, and be a perfect image of control. This waiting was killing her. The only comfort Shizuru could find was sucking on a wet gauze pad that she'd plucked from Mai's dripping hand…

It tasted like heaven, and even in her fear for the woman, she couldn't deny her desire to rend through the woman's all too soft flesh, nip into her, and drink deeply from the source…

Love, it was not easy, and the cooking knife that had accidentally slipped from Mai's hands…that piece of cutlery was no more…left in shattered bits upon the roof…only a testament to Shizuru's greatest ire…

Mai should never, could never be hurt….never again…


	29. Meal

**41\. Meal  
**(Vampire stuff, taking about mealtime, clearly...)

As a vampire, she had more animalistic instincts than she cared to admit, hunting being one of them. Her keen eyesight, acute sense of hearing, even her deft reflexes, all of those things were part of her nature. They were made to be practiced it was, begged to be honed, more or less, a requirement. A fact of her nature. Being cooped up too long, she'd go crazy.

It wasn't that she couldn't eat human food, and Mai's cooking was more or less palatable. The only problem was, it didn't offer her any nutrition. She needed fresh blood, either from a bag, or from a fresh kill. Any kind of blood would suffice, but some blood was just better, healthier to eat, than others. She wasn't squeamish about her meals, wasn't bothered by gulping down liters of it, if she had to. She didn't have to eat every day so the nights that she grew hungry for something for filling for her tastes, she did the cooking.

This evening, like many others she'd brought home a cleaned a rabbit, draining the vital fluids for her own consumption later, she'd keep the meat for Mai, make a stew out of it for her human companion. She'd grown used to human food, what spices they seemed to like, what foods they seemed to gravitate towards. At first, she thought of her duty like feeding a pet, something that had to be done if she wanted to Keep Mai around…

However, as time went on, she began to understand the whims of the decidedly human woman. It would be easier to forcibly turn the woman, but Mai didn't want that.

"I hope this is suitable to you." Shizuru said, still finding the idea of stew meat atrocious.

"It's fine." Mai said after taking a large, heedless taste. The broth was warm, flavorful. "The carrots could have used a little more time to cook through, but other than that, you've gotten to be quite good in the kitchen."

"I'm glad you say so." A weak smile, and a sip from her own goblet made her wonder about that though.

"You're disgusted by this, aren't you?" Mai asked, looking down at her meal, wondering to what lengths Shizuru would go to in order to look after the both of them. "I don't mind doing all of the cooking, especially if it bothers you so much."

"I was born this way." Shizuru said with a shrug, recalling being very young and carrying a sippy cup of blood around. She'd never even had the chance to live a human life. "I wasn't raised around conventional cooking, so, even though it doesn't particularly appall me…" She continued to sip at her meal, continued to push the complicated question further and further away from her mind. "Does this…." She didn't want to know the answer to that question.

"You have to eat…don't you?" Mai murmured so softly that Shizuru could barely hear it. "How I feel about it doesn't really matter because you have to do it…it's just, a fact of life."

"That doesn't mean you agree with it." Shizuru said, but, Mai was already denying the claim.

"Animals I understand…" Mai said without restraint. "People…people are…well…"

"I would never try to hurt you." Shizuru said, a deep sense of pride in her words. "I don't really relish eating people…they're too close to my kind, if you think about it, we're not too different. It doesn't mean I don't crave it, or, that I'm above my own baser instincts if an irresistible opportunity presented itself…but, you have to believe me…I would never hunt a person for sport."

"I believe you…" Mai said, she wasn't really all that hungry anymore, but she wasn't going to let Shizuru's cooking go to waste as she spooned some more into her mouth. "Listen, we're lovers aren't we? That means we eat dinner together…even if…what we eat….is different. That's just how it is."


	30. Imagination

**42\. Imagination**  
(Shizuru/Mai fluff)

Her body hurt, plain and simple. She kept her eyes closed, as her head throbbed something fierce, dulling her senses and forcing her into wakefulness. She cracked her eyes open, crimson eyes blurry as she struggled to take in her surroundings. It was too painful, and she closed them again.

This bed, this room, she'd never seen it before. That meant that unfortunately, it was not her own.

A worrisome reality, when she came to think of it as such…not that it truly matter, she supposed, she sensed no threat….none other than her warring body at any rate. She had to give the person who owned the place credit though, the bed was soft. A sheet concealed what she knew to be nudity, and the warmth of the room itself was something that she was forced to take notice of.

A hot, sunny, summer's day for sure.

She could smell the scent of a soft perfume as it permeated the air. She rolled over onto her belly, stifling a murmured curse as she sighed. How had she ended up here, and whose bed was this, exactly? She forced herself up, her palms digging into the mattress, long fawn tresses covering her eyes.

"Ow…" she hissed. "Must have been a night…"

There was a slight sting between her legs, long lines down her back, and a distinctly tender spot on her neck where she was sure she had a few nip marks. She wasn't particularly surprised, women were known to leave her skin blemished more often than not…but this…this was a special kind of pain, it lingered, making itself, and her actions very well known to her.

It wasn't only a night, it had to have been a wild one.

"Oh, good, you're awake…"

Shizuru about flung herself half-way across the room as she realized who's dorm room she was in. "Mai?!"

...what a night indeed.

"Shizuru, wow, you can calm down…" Mai said softly as she brought a cool cloth, gently pushing it to Shizuru's forehead. "You have a hangover, don't you?"

The pained woman nodded, confused. "It's too bright to be morning…"

"It's late afternoon…" Mai said with a small laugh. "Want me to close the blinds?"

"If you would…"

Mai got up to so strictly that, a happy little hum falling from her lips as she dimmed the room. She was clad in her pajamas, but Shizuru had the distinct feeling that Mai had been equally naked and tangled in an embrace not a few hours before…

Shizuru blinked a few times, happy to be rid of the brightness. "Did we…"

Mai smiled, and poured some of Shizuru's favorite tea. Leaning in for a slow kiss she pulled away, her voice tender and soft. "I'll leave that to your imagination."


	31. Home

**43\. Home**  
(More vampire stuff, Shizuru centric)

Night…

Day…

Into night once more…

How long could a creature of the night last, lonely atop the pillars of the city below, watching…waiting…desiring something more? How long, could she, like a statue, sit emotionless from her view, cold and calculating? Inhuman creature, human desire, animalistic tenacity…all of these things, kept her sitting atop her place, watching…

Just watching.

She was, without question, a blood drinker.

Hailing from a long line of them, she had no family, no place to call her own…not truly, because four walls and a roof could only be classified as a domain. Her place to sleep, her place to contemplate. It was hers, but she was neither attached to it, or bothered by the idea of leaving it behind it at any time.

Home, that was different. That, was where the heart was, it lingered, a feeling and little more. Home was a thing taken from her. Home, would be a thing she would always think about, consider, and, maybe even covet…but it would never be something she'd attain.


	32. Keepsake

**44\. Keepsake  
**(Romance)

A token gesture, is that was this was?

A broken, unspoken way to expel the words?

Mai wasn't buying it. "I can't accept this."

"It's yours." Shizuru wouldn't accept it back. "Accepting it or not doesn't matter. It's yours. All yours."

It was a beautiful ring, tastefully done in white gold. Small rubies circled a diamond in the center. It wasn't a large ring by far, because it was made for the daintiness of Mai's slender fingers in mind. It was, as Shizuru liked to think of it, a perfect fit, for in her mind, the perfect suitor.

Yet, she'd never said the words.

"Tell me that you love me, please." Even though Mai asked…

Even then, the words just would not, could not come. Shizuru reached forward, cupping Mai's cheek in a gentle caress, her lips lingering just a breath away. Yes she loved Mai, she loved her more than words, more than objects, and more than even her imagination could comprehend.

"It is yours, even the things I cannot say." Shizuru murmured then. "Even if you were to throw it away, deny it, or refute it…it will always only ever be yours. That, I unquestioningly promise you from the absolute bottom of my heart."

"Even though you can't say the words?" Mai murmured aloud.

"Precisely because I cannot." Shizuru explained. "Further, it's because you already know."

Mai did.

She'd known from the start.

Still, she hoped, one day, she might actually hear the phrase with her own to ears.

"I love you, Shizuru."

Hear it, so that one day, it would be more than just a voiceless echo.


	33. Fireplace

A/N: Boredom inspired this.

**45\. Fireplace  
**(Angst, Romance,)**  
**

Mai cooked dinner, and they ate, sharing no words. This was a dark day indeed, and Mai wasn't sure that she would find the answers she needed in the simple pasta dish that sat on her plate. She could twirl the noodles over and over and over again. The tiny twisted mound wouldn't provide the comfort that it once used to. Food was no longer her solace in anything, most certainly not with Shizuru.

Mai knew she was asking a lot from her, more than Shizuru could probably bear. What _was_ she thinking about? Mai wished she knew.

The fawn haired woman sat, knitting, not inclined to speak her thoughts on the matter. Not about her worries, or why she had abandoned her plate. She just wasn't hungry, and would rather be engulfed in her own mind alone. Turmoil had become a common acquaintance, and who was she to deny its company.

The house creaked.  
The clock ticked.  
The fire crackled.  
The silence was deafening.

Mai felt like she was turning into a madwoman, and if she felt that way, what did that say about Shizuru? What hint did that give to the depth of her lover's mind? With careful and measured movements, Mai put the silverware down.

"Shizuru…" Mai's whispered word of her lover's name didn't gift a response. "Shizuru, come on. Please, say something." Again, no answer. Long moments passed. Mai took a sip of the dry wine she favored, finding it unusually bitter at that moment. "Fine, then, can you at least just look at me?"

Shizuru did, only long enough to put her project away and stand up. She knew what Mai wanted. She knew what Mai had been asking her to do for years, but Shizuru wasn't sure that she could. She didn't know if she had the strength. She got up and walked into the bedroom, returning later with a shoe box.

A box she presented to Mai without saying a word before kneeling in front of the fireplace. Tossing it into the fire was easier than it should have been. She didn't even have the urge to reach out and try to save it.

The box of memories turned to ash…

Lone, gone, and forgotten. The promises they used to hold nothing more than grey speckles. Fragments to be cast asunder, and in this, it was for the best. At least, she wanted to believe that. So why then, did it hurt to look at them in the warm orange light? Why did it seem to burn? Salt in her eyes, stinging, and reminding her that she wasn't as numb as she felt.

Knowing fingertips slipped down beyond her shoulders, hands cupped over her chest. "You can stop crying now." The gentle voice from above her said. "I'm here."

"Is that a promise?" The woman needed to know, because she couldn't deal with a fractured heart a second time. She promised to throw away her past, to forget all of it, but now that she had, what was left? What could give her the reprieve she always wanted?

"I don't lie about things like that." It was a promise, and one that Mai would keep, so long as her lover would have her. "Shizuru, it's better not to hold onto the past. That's why I had you burn that box. Those memories, they're…" Well, Mai wasn't sure how to phrase it, and she sighed. "…bad for you."

Maybe they were, but what now? The same old dusty routine? It was the comfort, the quick fix, but that couldn't be the balm now too, could it? Shizuru didn't know, her mind was too blank, and she felt completely empty.

Sex was the easy thing to turn too. Both in good humor, and in raw honesty. Shizuru was obsessed with the deviation that could come from the act. She was a delinquent under that good girl exterior, a maniac beneath that thin veneer of sanity. Sex was like a release of all of the terrible things concocted within the pit of her absolutely dark soul.

"There are a great many things I deem bad for me." Shizuru admitted. In fact, her mind was focusing on one thing particularly. "You might also be bad…"

"I won't let it get that way." Mai said honestly.

"You may not allow it, but that might not be enough to stop me." Shizuru couldn't even fathom her own madness. She couldn't question her extreme attitudes, they were just there, always. Her intense sadness, frustration, and even the lust that came from it. Her insanity drove friends, family, and enemies alike away.

Shizuru wanted sex now. Mai knew that she did. There was no need to lie about that either. Oblivion was the peace of the mind, the gift of sleep…the safe haven where neither one of them had to think about anything but that one single moment. Mai wanted to just give into old habits as well. They were just looming there over the firelight after all. Shizuru kneeling, and regarding the heat with a fixed expression. Mai leaning above her.

Tension between them ran high, Shizuru's boiling rage bubbling inward. Chastising herself. Crimson eyes like the color of blood and fire itself, gazed only forward. It spun Mai like a coil, tighter and tighter, wondering which one of them would snap first. They wouldn't make eye contact. Wouldn't let the other one know the depths of their thoughts.

Sex was all they knew. How to live a life beyond that? It was anyone's guess.

Mai let out a disappointed sigh at herself. "All you need to do is believe me." She knew that Shizuru would fight and claw at herself from the inside out. She would hate herself, and Mai couldn't let that happen. She wouldn't. Not anymore. "Shizuru, I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

Shizuru didn't say anything, she only looked to the fire. Only stared at it, quietly letting the tears fall. Her body shook, she was so angry. Angry at Mai, angry at herself. Angry at the past she wanted to cling onto for the rest of her life like a crucifix.

Mai said nothing to this newfound rainfall pattering on the oak floor. Instead, she soundlessly walked away. The space between them hotter than any inferno, and icy cold, all at the same time. She opened the bedroom door, and closed it behind her.

There was only one thing left to do.

Wait for Shizuru to lose composure, and take control…


End file.
